Will Mindcraft be expanded?

[d3vlyn]

Hi all, this is my first post here so I thought I'd touch on the subject of my favourite class; the Mindcrafter.

*Disclaimer: I have not yet completed ADoM, but I have been playing NetHack since I was 6 (almost 20 years ago now) and ADoM on-and-off since late teens. So I know the game well enough, just not how to win it.

I've played most of the classes in this game, as all have something about them that intrigues me, however the Mindcrafter is by far the most interesting. A character with psionic power is always something I'm keen to roll with, regardless of how powerful they are in relation to others, as I tend to go for those "weird" classes in games. For example, if I want to shoot things I'd pick a Ranger instead of an Archer, and I never play a Wizard/Mage when there are more unusual casters available. And that's why I love this game, the diversity of classes and their playstyles compared to most RPGs.

Unfortunately though, when I first came across ADoM and tried my hand at a Mindcrafter, the gameplay didn't live up to the manual description. I was forced to whack stuff for 6 levels, then when I finally got a damaging spell I chose to try it out on a claw bug that had cornered me... no dice. I understand you can't be a psionic demi-god from the word go, but after reading more about the Mindcrafter's playstyle I was less interested to continue. The combat doesn't really focus on my amazing mind-powers, but more on melee/missiles with a bit of confusion thrown in.

This is an issue that comes from having a very limited spell pool. I'm a huge fan of the design preventing Mindcrafters from learning spells from books, but there should be more Mindcraft spells in their arsenal to counteract that disadvantage. Adding more to their telekinetic manipulation would be a good start, including effects like levitation and stasis, which would work against undead/brainless monsters. This would give the class the ability to play as a pure spellcaster if so desired, but still require you to play tactically using disables and control.

So my question, after much rambling, is: Will Mindcraft be expanded upon to allow for a pure caster playstyle?

My brief search of the forums didn't show anything on this, but if it has been raised I apologise. All feedback is appreciated.

[Superteeth]

I don't know about any of that, but personally I would like if there was a dedicated button to press for mindcraft, instead of having to press ctrl-x, m, and then select your mindcrafting ability.

[d3vlyn]

I don't know about any of that, but personally I would like if there was a dedicated button to press for mindcraft, instead of having to press ctrl-x, m, and then select your mindcrafting ability.

Ctrl-i isn't it?

[Superteeth]

Something easier (without the ctrl) would be nice. With spellcasting, I can just press caps lock and z for frequent spell casting sessions. Although, I think I would be able to change the keybindings as well. Time to try a mindcrafter!

[d3vlyn]

That is a good point, perhaps the Z keybind for casting spells should also include Mindcraft? Seeing as you can never have both spells and Mindcraft, it wouldn't overlap anything.

Hmm...

[Grond]

Mindcrafters seem like they were designed to rely on weapons, at least for the early game. They don't get more efficient at mindcraft by using it a lot, they don't require extra weapon marks, they have an early ability that beefs up their DV/PV, and their first general purpose offensive ability is melee range.

That is a good point, perhaps the Z keybind for casting spells should also include Mindcraft? Seeing as you can never have both spells and Mindcraft, it wouldn't overlap anything.

They can still learn spells from wands/potions of wonder.

[Silfir]

You can definitely have spells alongside mindcraft though. Reading spellbooks is close to impossible, but wands of wonder exist and even a couple of castings of many spells can be very useful, especially of those mindcraft can't replicate. There's no Web mindcraft, no Remove Curse mindcraft etc. I wouldn't want to miss out on spellcasting as a mindcrafter. That said, there are still unassigned keys - for instance, "j" doesn't do anything. Sure, there's no "j" in "mindcraft", but it's not like Ctrl-i is any more intuitive. "j" as in "jazz up some brainwaves in this sucka", maybe? (I'm white and German. Apologies to the English language. I live in shame.)

It's definitely true that mindcrafters are basically forced to develop their initially nonexistant melee and missile prowess if they want to live for a long time. They're helped along just a little by full weapon training marks and that's just about it; Mind Shield helps in a pinch but it comes online late and eats PP like candy. Undead and mindless or simplistic enemies, like bugs, are unkillable otherwise. Telekinetic blast comes online far too late to do anything about this necessity. Forcefields or levitation, maybe a weaker telekinetic blast... The early mindcrafter levels are just a little barren at the moment.

On the other hand... Well. Farmers who come to the Drakalor chain end up finding out as well that the skills they obtained during their adult life don't have a lot of cross-application when it comes to exploring hostile dungeons, and have to learn to make do. Mindcrafters are similarly forced to realize that the mindless and mind-twisted and corrupted were rather left out of their curriculum, in the end, learn to make do or adapt. Mindcrafters were always intended to be hard to play, unlike wizards, who were essentially proven right - unfettered arcane power does tend to provide a solution to a great deal of problems. Which is not to say that making mindcrafters easier to play would be a bad thing. The main focus should be on making them fun as well as feel like playing a mindcrafter. And that's where they come up just a little short, I would agree.

[d3vlyn]

Mindcrafters seem like they were designed to rely on weapons, at least for the early game. They don't get more efficient at mindcraft by using it a lot, they don't require extra weapon marks, they have an early ability that beefs up their DV/PV, and their first general purpose offensive ability is melee range.

I agree they need to rely on weapons early on, and their survival in these first few levels is very difficult. But once reaching ~lvl 12 they should have sufficient mental capability to take on most enemies if they choose. Mindcraft does improve with Clvl and Wisdom, so does still scale.

And yeah, melee range mental powers seem odd to me. Why no range? Should be able to single out a target in a pack of monsters and rip their mind apart... but that's just my vision of how the class should work.

They can still learn spells from wands/potions of wonder.

Forgot about that, makes sense to keep them separate.

[LFk]

A little levitation wouldn't be a bad idea.

Toggle it on and off, drains PP while in use, allows you to float over water, lets you move a faster (reduces energy cost of movement by X%). Make it expensive enough PP-wise and weak enough energy cost-wise so it isn't some kind of free mini-7LB, but useful in a pinch to move across a few tiles of water or make a narrow escape. That seems like something a psionic character would be able to do.


And by the way, it's Ctrl-i as in 'i'nvoke your powers, I'd say that's a bit more intuitive than jazzing people :P

Plus, I thought you could change your keybindings anyway with the .kbd file, you can make it whatever you like. For those who don't like Ctrl-i, ditch a seldom used key. All the capital M does by default is display missile statistics anyway, you can get that information from the character window. You can 'M'indcraft if you want to.

[d3vlyn]

Exactly what I had in mind, though I thought it would cost more energy than walking to balance it out. Something like stasis would also help, being a single target paralysis, maybe with a ball-like AoE version at higher levels.

These are just thoughts, but I do think a ranged, semi-early game damage ability is needed.